


you're always on my mind

by siringiri



Series: Mystery of the Millennium [3]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, I'm Sorry, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan-centric, M/M, it's basically a story about an embarrassed donghyuck, we're not reaching romance yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 11:17:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siringiri/pseuds/siringiri
Summary: “I just did something stupid at school,” Donghyuck says in a rather quiet voice. Renjun scoffs.“When did you ever not do something stupid?”“But this is like the stupidest thing I ever did in my whole life!”Alternatively, how Donghyuck becomes boo boo the fool because of Jeno.





	you're always on my mind

**Author's Note:**

> This story picks up right after "make me feel so high" so you probably need to read that first to understand some stuff. Also, anyone excited for Dream's comeback? Can't really wait for the Dream hour to come already, aren't we? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! :)))

When Donghyuck arrives home, his mother is the first person who talks to him.

 

“Donghyuck! What did I say about announcing you’re home when you’re home?”

 

The boy hits himself on the head. He forgot about it since his mind is pretty much still in distraught. He says sorry to his mother before turning his heels to his bedroom.

 

“Remember your father is coming home in thirty minutes! Get Injun to have dinner with us too, okay?”

 

“Alright, Mom!” is his last reply before disappearing into his bedroom.

 

Inside his bedroom is Renjun who seems to have just woken up from sleep. Maybe he woke up because of Donghyuck entering the room, but the disturbance becomes worse as the latter just slams his body, face first on the bed.

 

Renjun groans over the added weight on the bed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

 

Donghyuck’s reply is muffled as his face is still buried in the bedsheets.

 

“Can’t you just remove your face from the bed first before talking?”

 

The owner of the room eventually does just that after making some more high-pitched noises for a few moments. Renjun looks at Donghyuck in distaste.

 

“I just did something stupid at school,” Donghyuck says in a rather quiet voice. Renjun scoffs.

 

“When did you ever not do something stupid?”

 

“But this is like the stupidest thing I ever did in my whole life!”

 

“And you chose to do that when I’m taking a break from school?”

 

Donghyuck adjusts his position on the bed so now he’s facing Renjun. “Anyway, don’t tell my parents about it, or they’re going to kill me.”

 

“It depends. Do any of our teachers know about it?”

 

Donghyuck goes silent as his expression is slowly filled with dread.

 

“Well then, you’re going to get killed by your parents.”

 

What Donghyuck did is really stupid, he admits. See, he has noticed something weird about the transfer student in his class, which is none other than Lee Jeno. The good-looking, smart, handsome, like-a-living-statue, talented, and was it already mentioned that he’s perfect? – anyway, Lee Jeno. He also seems like a total sweetheart. He smiles at everyone with that stupid eye-smile of his, and he talks in that gentle and smooth voice that makes girls and boys melt left and right. He’s also good at probably everything. Academics, sports, and even music, because Donghyuck has seen him working his way around with a guitar.

 

The weird thing Donghyuck discovered about him did not only make him more perfect, but beyond extraordinary. The guy has superpower, for Christ’s sake. From the moment he found out, and throughout other moments when he caught Jeno displaying that power of his, he also has been telling them to his friends, notably of course, Jisung and Renjun. The younger regarded him as a lunatic, and the elder just didn’t give a shit. For some other time, he had turned to his seatmate, Sunwoo, instead, a boy who often becomes the target of the upperclassmen trio of bullies. Sunwoo is quite accepting of the story, and is probably the only person Donghyuck has ever told the story who seems to believe him. The only downside of this all is just, well, he’s a bullied student.

 

So it was both a surprise and not when the bullies suddenly went out their way to corner Donghyuck. The boy is part of the school’s sports clubs which includes taekwondo, and he also has daredevil kind of attitude to boot so most of the times bullies just don’t want to mess with him, which is why he found the situation weird.

 

“We heard you got someone who can move things with mind in your class.” Surely, Sunwoo was the one who told them about it.

 

“We heard it’s the new student? That guy everyone’s been swooning over? Is it right?”

 

“We want to see it. So you need to prove it to us.”

 

“Why should I?” Donghyuck spat at them.

 

“Because if you do that, we won’t bother Sunwoo anymore.”

 

Donghyuck was stunned when he heard that. Sunwoo was really going out of his way here. So he confronted his seatmate, who immediately fell to his knees the moment Donghyuck mentioned about his encounter with the bullies.

 

“Donghyuck, I’m so sorry! Really, I wasn’t thinking straight when I told them about that! But I, uh, I need to do this because they already promised not to bully me anymore if they see that Jeno really has superpower, or else they’ll kick my ass so... help me? Please? I mean you already saw it, so you can really find a way to prove it, right?”

 

If there’s anything Donghyuck is weak for, it would be someone pleading to him with puppy eyes on. So he agreed to it. He even thought of the plan to make it work. Throwing himself off the school building in front of many students is indeed stupid, but it’s also brilliant in a sense that it would give no choice for Jeno but to use that godforsaken power of his, because the boy couldn’t just let him fall into his death, right?

 

It’s just that it’s easier said than done. He had been hesitating a lot to jump, and when he actually lost balance, he got pulled back instead of getting lifted into the air. (He does think that Jeno had used his power back then to push him back to the rooftop.) He lost the chance, but he gained tons and tons of embarrassment. He might as well just turn in a sick report tomorrow.

 

“But if you turn in a sick report wouldn’t your parents be asking you why?”

 

Before Donghyuck can answer Renjun’s question, he hears his name getting called several times by his mother in a rather furious tone, along with a threat that says if he doesn’t come right away she’ll go to him.

 

“I’m dead.”

 

 

 

 

The next day finds Donghyuck in the teacher’s office with his homeroom teacher and also both of his parents, with the teacher telling them about what happened yesterday. As the teacher keeps talking to his parents, Donghyuck is just sitting silently between them, trying to think of other stuff to keep him away from this for a moment. He’s thinking what he should do about Sunwoo now. And also Jeno, actually, because the boy has been driven to confirm to him that he indeed has superpower. Should he ask him for help about the Sunwoo situation? Should he just deal with it by himself? He can kick down the bullies if he wants to anyway, but that might actually put him in detention list too. Not if he does it outside of the school area though. Should he just call them outside of school then?

 

“Lee Donghyuck. Did you hear what I just said?” his father’s firm voice breaks the train of thoughts Donghyuck has.

 

“Uh, yes, sir!”

 

 

 

 

He is eventually let into the class after the first hour of lesson has passed. His homeroom teacher goes with him, so that he can be excused for getting into the class late. He meets eyes with Jeno on his way to his seat. The boy offers him a smile first, but it soon turns into an astonished look instead, which Donghyuck doesn’t know the reason why. He also finds his desk empty, which means Sunwoo didn’t come to school today.

 

It’s not easy for him to concentrate in the class, given how much has been burdening his thoughts lately, and he can also sometimes feel the others’ gaze on him, probably still reminded of the incident yesterday and maybe they’re also talking about him under hushed voices.

 

When the break time comes, he’s relieved because he definitely needs a break. Everyone but him is filtering out of the room, well, except for one person.

 

Donghyuck can feel Jeno’s gaze on him, so he looks up at the boy.

 

“You’re not going?”

 

It feels weird to actually start to talk to Jeno ever since he got his confirmation about the power, because he can’t help but see the boy in a different light now. The said boy tilts his head.

 

“Do you have something to say to me?”

 

Donghyuck starts to scream in his head only, because yes, he does have a lot to say and ask to Jeno. He doesn’t even know where to start, or if it’s okay for him to say, but then Sunwoo is making him worried, and he’s basically a mess.

 

“Should we have lunch together?”

 

The offer from the boy throws Donghyuck off guard. He widens his eyes in surprise, and seeing his reaction, Jeno smiles sheepishly at him, his hand hovering around the back of his neck.

 

“I already rejected the others’ offer to have lunch together, so...”

 

Smooth. Really smooth indeed.

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck immediately regrets agreeing to Jeno’s offer when he arrives in his usual seat.

 

Apparently, Jisung has occupied the usual spot along with Jaemin, who immediately brightens upon seeing the arrival of both Donghyuck and Jeno. He forgot that these two, Jaemin and Jeno, are best friends, and that these two are also famous around the school. Thus, the stares and the gossips directed at their table become twice more intense than it usually is. Heck, it actually died down a bit back when it was only Jaemin joining them after a while, but now it comes back full force. Jisung doesn’t even look bothered by it, but he is, and Renjun is not even there to help shouldering the burden at least. Speaking of Renjun though, Jaemin keeps asking Donghyuck about him as soon as he gets seated, and especially asks if he’s resting just fine in his house.

 

“He’s resting just fine in my house,” Donghyuck deadpans.

 

“Really? So he doesn’t get bothered by the ghosts in your house at all?”

 

“There is no ghost in my house.” Donghyuck takes offense in that question, or more like, because he’s sort of scared of ghosts, he’d rather believe there are none in his house.

 

He leans to Jisung to whisper something to the boy. “How did you get to sit with Jaemin alone in the first place?”

 

The younger boy whispers back to him, “he said he just wanted to accompany me because I was all by myself here, and he also bought me lunch.”

 

Donghyuck pulls back to see the happy smile on Jisung’s face. His face distorts in glee as he coos at Jisung’s cute smile and he reaches out to tickle the boy’s chin, but Jisung is quick to swat the elder’s hands. The elder pouts from the rejection.

 

When he looks back at the two best friends sitting in front of them, they’re staring into each other’s eyes without saying a word. There’s a slight smile on Jaemin’s face, a rather suspicious one if you ask Donghyuck, but when he looks at Jeno, he remembers that he wants to talk to him. As if he gets called, Jeno turns to Donghyuck looking somewhat startled.

 

“What is it that you want to talk about?”

 

The gears in Donghyuck’s head starts spinning again, making him dizzy with lots of swirling thoughts. He shakes his head in disappointment, mostly for his head. Besides, Jisung still thinks superpower is a crazy idea, so instead of talking about it in front of him, he decides to take a time for a private talk with Jeno later.

 

“Nah. I’ll just talk to you later.”

 

They get their alone time when they’re walking back to their classroom side by side. Donghyuck is still bothered by the eyes and whispers surrounding them, so again, he decides to just cancel this.

 

“Are you busy after school?”

 

Jeno looks at him as he shakes his head.

 

“Great, what about we go to the tteokbokki place in front of the school? Just the two of us?”

 

 

 

 

Finally, they’re finally getting the privacy they deserve as they manage to secure one of the secluded corners in the tteokbokki place, which is actually his favorite place to sit too. Donghyuck doesn’t need to be bothered by the unwanted attention in here.

 

It must’ve been the first time for Jeno to come to that place because he keeps looking around the place. Well, he’s fairly new in the area, so it’s pretty much a given. Donghyuck chooses the least spicy menu for them. As they’re waiting for their order to come, Jeno eventually focuses his gaze on the boy sitting in front of him.

 

“So... are you going to talk now?”

 

Donghyuck puts both his arms on the table quite dramatically as he stares into Jeno’s expectant eyes. Then he sighs not too long after.

 

“I don’t know. There are so many things I want to talk about, but I don’t know which one I should start.”

 

“Hmm... should we start from Sunwoo?”

 

“Sunwoo?” Donghyuck straightens up on his seat. “Why? Why Sunwoo?”

 

“Well... he’s got bullies behind his back? And he didn’t come to school today, and it seems to bother you.”

 

The tteokbokki they ordered comes at that moment. After thanking the auntie who serves the tteokbokki, they continue their conversation while eating.

 

“To be honest, I told Sunwoo about your power.”

 

Jeno nods.

 

“And well, he somehow told those seniors who bully him about your power too. So I think he made a deal that if the thing about your power is true, the seniors will have to leave him alone or something like that.”

 

“Which is why you were about to jump from the rooftop just for that?”

 

Donghyuck literally cringes as his grip on his fork gets tighter. Jeno just smiles in amusement.

 

“It failed anyway. Thanks to you. No, but really, thank you. But I don’t know, like what should I do now so that I can free him from those bullies?”

 

“You don’t need to worry too much.”

 

That statement makes Donghyuck raise his eyebrow.

 

“Are you going to help me out or what?”

 

“Sort of,” Jeno answers while munching a piece of tteok. “By the way, this is really good. I can see why you like this place.”

 

“Oh really? Then eat a lot! You can even ask for free refill here, you know.”

 

 

 

 

As they’re leaving the tteokbokki place, they stand outside the place for a moment to say farewell to each other.

 

“Thanks to you, I got to know a really good place to eat,” Jeno says with a smile on his face.

 

“No worries. Hey, but, uh... how would you help me out again?”

 

It’s funny, Donghyuck thinks. They had all the time to talk inside but they didn’t really talk about whatever it is that bothers Donghyuck’s mind. He only remembers it now that they’re about to go their own way.

 

Jeno makes a gesture that makes it seem like he’s thinking hard. He smiles again at Donghyuck then.

 

“You’ll find out really soon.”

 

Right at that moment, Donghyuck inadvertently spots Sunwoo behind Jeno’s back. The boy is located quite far from them, but Donghyuck is sure they have met eyes, because he can see Sunwoo flinch and then turn to walk away the moment he spots Donghyuck. He makes a chase after his seatmate, starting from walking fast to running after him. Sunwoo seems to have noticed this, because he’s now running too. The boy makes a turn towards an alley, and Donghyuck does too. When he reaches the alley though, he’s met with not only Sunwoo, but also the three bullies.

 

“Oh, you actually came,” says one of them. “Our favorite crackhead.”

 

Sunwoo is being held by one of the bullies’ arm around his shoulder, his face looking up to Donghyuck in a mix of guilt and fear.

 

“Let the poor boy go, or else,” Donghyuck says while trying to make his tone intimidating.

 

“Or what? You’re going to whack us in the ass?”

 

“I just might actually!” He starts cracking his neck and knuckles for good measure.

 

“You’re our junior and you’re challenging us in a fight? Fine! It’s not like we can’t beat you up too!”

 

One of the bullies starts running towards Donghyuck, and he can tell that this bully is probably just all offensive and no defense. He learns through his time in the taekwondo club that defense is important, so he easily avoids the punch being thrown at him. He avoids another one and then catches his opponent’s fist, which makes the bully surprised. He takes the chance to attack by twisting his elbow and giving him knee kicks on his stomach before throwing him to the ground.

 

He turns to the rest of the bullies who are still holding Sunwoo with them. “Who’s next?”

 

One of them smirks instead. “If we can’t beat you up, we can still beat up this little guy!”

 

The two of them starts throwing punches to Sunwoo in his stomach, which makes Donghyuck launch at them, but before he can do that, the bully that he just beat down catches his ankle, which makes him fall on his knees. Then he gets a weight being thrown at his back, and from the ragged breathing, he can tell it’s Sunwoo. After that he feels kicks flying to parts of his body, and with Sunwoo being on top of him, he finds it hard to retaliate. He tries by using his hand, but it’s not enough. In fact, his hand also gets kicked, making him cry in pain.

 

In the next few seconds though, the kicks around him are gone, and he can hear the noise of something hitting the wall along with chorused groans. He takes the opportunity to slide away from Sunwoo’s weight, as he can see the boy is also half-conscious now with bruises prominent on his face. He must’ve gotten beaten up earlier too, he thinks. He starts to take in the situation as he turns to the end of the alley, where the bullies are now lying on the ground whimpering in pain, and to the other end, where he sees Jeno just standing there, but with straight face that looks too foreign for Donghyuck. He’s more used to the smiley Jeno after all.

 

Donghyuck notices from the corner of his eyes that some of the wastes from a trash bin are suddenly floating in the air. He looks at the bullies to see their reaction, and indeed, they all now look like scared little babies. The wastes hit them straight in the face. Donghyuck scrunches up his face in disgust.

 

After all that display of telekinesis, Jeno walks towards the bullies. He crouches near them as he looks into their eyes one by one silently. Donghyuck doesn’t really know what or why he does that though. He gets distracted by Sunwoo who finally regains full consciousness again.

 

“Ugh... Donghyuck...”

 

“Sunwoo, this bastard, you scared me!”

 

He hits Sunwoo on his arm, which makes the latter yelp a little, but soon he rubs the spot he hit to soothe the pain.

 

When he looks back to the other way, Jeno is standing on his feet now, looking down at the bullies who are just starting to get up. He turns to Donghyuck and gives him his trademark eye-smile and also a thumbs up. Right, that’s the face Donghyuck is more familiar with. He feels a calming effect after seeing that smile back.

 

The bullies, once they get up on their feet, start walking like they’re in a daze, and when they spot Sunwoo on the ground, they look at each other, and then at their surrounding with fearful eyes before taking a run, away from the place. Their behavior raises a question mark in Donghyuck’s head, and he turns to Jeno, who is now approaching him... or not.

 

He actually makes a turn to crouch to Sunwoo’s other side.

 

“Is he okay?” Jeno directs the question to Donghyuck who nods.

 

Sunwoo only realizes Jeno’s presence next to him after hearing his voice. He almost jumps in his spot.

 

“Oh, Jeno, didn’t expect to see you here...”

 

The said boy smiles again, his eyes never leaving Sunwoo’s. Soon enough Donghyuck also notices something weird from Sunwoo. He seems to have entered a trance the moment he meets eyes with Jeno, but not really for long. It’s long enough for Donghyuck to notice though. When Sunwoo seems to have snapped from a daze, he starts getting up, and receives help from both Donghyuck and Jeno to do so.

 

“Thanks, guys, I really appreciate your help. I think I’ll just go home...”

 

“Wait! You don’t want to treat your injury first?” Donghyuck inquires.

 

“I’ll just treat myself at home.” Sunwoo smiles at him. “I’ll just go now. Bye. See you at school.”

 

Now that Sunwoo mentions school, he forgot to ask why he didn’t come to school today. But seeing Sunwoo walking away with a limp makes him think twice. He’s more concerned about the boy’s well-being. Is it really okay for him to just go home like that?

 

“Just let him be,” comes the answer to his thoughts from Jeno. “Did you get hurt anywhere, by the way?”

 

At the question, Donghyuck looks down at his body, and then tries to twist his back and ankles and wrists. There’s a slight pain on his back, but he thinks he can handle it with pain relief patches.

 

“You need to take care of yourself before taking care of others, really.”

 

“Wait, wait, you’re distracting me,” Donghyuck protests. He needs to ask questions, pronto. “What— why did you do that telekinesis in front of those bullies? You didn’t even hide yourself when you did that— why?”

 

Jeno still looks as calm as ever when he starts explaining. “Well, that’s because I want to make them think that it’s some angry ghost’s doing. Like a ghost protecting Sunwoo, so the next time they see him they wouldn't dare to bother him again. I need to look into their eyes to make them think that way, so—”

 

“Wait, what? You—what?” Donghyuck gasps as he covers his opened mouth. “You really can mess with people’s memories?”

 

“It’s not like that. I’m just making them think the way I want them to. It’s like illusion, I guess, but—”

 

“Oh my God. Stay away from me.” Donghyuck does what he just said instead as he stumbles backwards, creating a distance between him and Jeno. The latter looks at him with a mix of mirth and astonishment.

 

“I never did anything with your mind, really!”

 

“How would I know that you’re not lying?”

 

“I— well, even if I did, there’s nothing major—”

 

“Don’t come closer to me! Stay where you are!”

 

Jeno does as he’s told. Donghyuck still looks scandalized as he continues.

 

“Okay... so, you can do more than just telekinesis, yeah? I saw you looking into Sunwoo’s eyes too earlier, what were you doing then?”

 

“It’s just to make him think you’re just talking nonsense when you talk about my powers to him. You know, to stop him from saying that to anyone else in the future.”

 

 _Oh_. Donghyuck suddenly feels a pang of guilt, just a small one. He starts to calm down. Then another question arises.

 

“Why don’t you do that to me?”

 

“You want me to?”

 

For a moment, Donghyuck gets a little goosebumps as he shakes his head fervently. “Uh, no, thank you.” That at least earns an amused chuckle from Jeno.

 

“Okay, so, like... what more can you do then, other than this... manipulative power of yours?”

 

Jeno starts doing that thinking gesture again. “Well... since I’m primarily a telepath, so I guess the basic telepathy stuff? Like you know...”

 

Donghyuck has read stuff on the internet and also watched movies about telepathy before, and from what he can remember, telepathy can enable people to read minds…

 

“Yeah, that, and also...”

 

Donghyuck looks at Jeno in bewilderment. Did he just answer what was going on in his mind?

_Yes, I did._

He jumps from the sudden foreign but familiar voice resounding in his head, distancing himself more from Jeno. At this rate he’s already plastered his back to the wall, closing his gaping mouth as he feels the mortifying feeling sinking in.

 

_Oh my God, no, you didn’t._

Donghyuck enters his bedroom with dumb-looking expression on his face, which makes Renjun, who’s busy cleaning up the room, raises one eyebrow at him. The former doesn’t pay attention to the other boy’s existence as he slams himself into his bed, letting out a yelp as his body still remembers the pain on his back. He ignores it in favor of burying his face into the sheets of his bed.

 

“I’m guessing you just experienced or did something embarrassing again,” Renjun comments.

 

The other boy shrieks into the bed, which earns an eye-roll from Renjun as he continues sweeping the floor.

 

“Hey, Donghyuck,” he kicks the said boy’s dangling legs as he remembers something to say. “I’ll go back to school and my place tomorrow.”

 

This time, Donghyuck whines into his sheets. Renjun drops the broom he’s been holding and makes his way to sit on the bed.

 

“What is wrong with you?” He sits on the other side of the bed so he can look at Donghyuck face-to-face when he lifts his head. When Donghyuck looks up, his face looks like he’s about to cry.

 

“I’ll just turn in a sick report tomorrow,” he says quietly.

 

“What? No, you have to come to school with me. Seriously, what is it this time?”

 

Donghyuck facepalms as he starts to launch himself into The Explanation.

 

“So apparently Jeno doesn’t only lift things with his mind but he can also read minds goddamnit like I now understand why I always felt like he knows that I know that he can do stuff because he does and I can’t just look him in the eyes knowing he knows what I’m thinking all this time fuck.”

 

Renjun doesn’t respond right away even though he heard what all Donghyuck just said, he just goes into a contemplating mode from a moment. Donghyuck peeks through the gaps between his fingers. He remembers he has omitted the part where he already confirmed the existence of Jeno’s superpowers when he told him about his stunt last time. At least he doesn’t look indifferent about it now. He wonders if it’s okay to tell Renjun about it though.

 

“So what? You can’t just fake a sickness especially not in front of your parents. You’ll still have to go to school tomorrow.”

 

“I can just go outside and trip myself in front of a passing car right at this moment.”

 

“Hey, don’t do that, you idiot!”

 

 

 

 

Donghyuck’s heart is pounding fast in his chest as he approaches his classroom. Fuck, it’s not like he’s transferred into a new school or something. Wait, he needs to somehow make his mind as quiet as possible. He stands outside the classroom and closes his eyes, trying to meditate for a moment, which earns him some looks from his classmates who’s on their way to enter the class. When he flies his eyes open and lets out a deep breath, he thinks he’s ready. He can do this.

 

_Hi Donghyuck!_

The familiar voice that he hears inside his mind all of the sudden has just made his resolution all collapsing in a blink. He turns to his right and sees Jeno standing not too far from him in the corridor, his eyes of course in the form of crescents when he smiles.

 

Donghyuck smiles back awkwardly, and at this moment, there’s only one thing that comes across his mind, which is probably the reason why Jeno’s smile is getting wider, threatening to turn into full-on laughter.

 

_I’m so fucking screwed._

**Author's Note:**

> I'll explain a little bit about Jeno's powers here. So in general, people of his kind have both primary and secondary powers. His primary power is telepathy, and it's pretty advanced, because he can read minds, transfer thoughts, do some mind control and illusions, put up mind shield and more other stuff. He can also still learn to do more with it. Telekinesis is his secondary power which is not his priority to learn, but he's doing pretty good at it too, but of course it's less advanced than his telepathy. I'll do notes on Jaemin's power too, but in the next installment probably because I still have more ideas to expand on that. Their background story will need to wait for a little longer though, but hopefully I can get there soon along with Renjun's too I guess. ^^


End file.
